LETTER: Hunt has sparked a lively debate

Published:10:00Sunday 31 January 2016

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Warren Marshall (Sussex Express Letters Jan 15th) states, “Beryl Wilkins makes several mistakes, The Burns report did not find unacceptable stress or exhaustion in hunted quarry...the report states that the average time that a fox is chased before it is either caught or gets away is ten minutes.”

This is incorrect. The Burns Report, Section 2:22, states, “Sometimes the hounds will come across a fox and kill it immediately, before it has chance to flee. In other cases,the hounds will follow at a distance.”

(There then follows details of circumstances prior to the kill, concluding with): “If the hounds are successful in their pursuit, they will get close enough to the fox to see it and will than catch it up, kill and usually tear at the carcase. The length of the chase may vary considerably, from a few minutes to well over an hour or even longer, but the average is some 15 to 20 minutes. The distance covered may be anything up to six or seven miles, in a circular or twisting line.”

Maybe, as Mr Marshall suggests, most people don’t care one way or the other but the subject is certainly causing lively debate in Sussex Express Letters.

Beryl Wilkins,

Bishops Drive, Lewes

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